Personen
Lukas Franciszkiewicz
Head of MA Major Industrial Design & Research
Lukas Franciszkiewicz is Head of MA Industrial Design and Research at ZHdK, where he leads a research-driven, transdisciplinary programme that treats design as an experimental and critical practice. He develops and runs a curriculum in which speculation and imagination sit alongside prototyping and making, using the Master’s studio as a space to test how design can unpack and reframe emerging technologies rather than simply apply them. Lukas’s pedagogy is shaped by extended periods in Germany, the UK, Japan and Switzerland, which inform a view of design as a situated cultural practice rather than exclusively a tool for problem-solving. This approach expands technological imagination beyond solutionism and explores design’s potential within the entangled relationships between humans, non-humans, technologies, and ecologies.
Practice & Inquiry
Over 15 years of international experience have shaped Lukas's commitment to a central question: How can speculative thinking and experimental practice expand what we imagine to be possible within technology development? Rather than accepting technological inevitability, his work interrogates alternatives, embedded values, and the aesthetic potential of design propositions.
This inquiry operates across multiple registers. Between 2014 and 2019, as co-founder and director of Takram London, he led research and innovation projects for global technology leaders including Sony, Toyota, Google, and Tamron, as well as research institutions such as MIT Media Lab and the University of Tokyo. Within these applied contexts, he embedded critical questioning alongside commercial deliverables, exploring alternative interaction paradigms and prototyping new products and services.
His work has been exhibited at internationally renowned venues including the Saint-Étienne Design Biennale, London Design Festival, Vienna Biennale, Shanghai Power Station of Art, and Mudac Lausanne, where his project is held in the permanent collection.
Research at ZHdK
At ZHdK, Lukas pursues research at the intersection of critical inquiry and applied innovation. Selected current projects include Solar Fuels (SNSF AGORA grant with EPFL and mudac), a collaborative investigation into alternative energy futures; Latent Potential, exploring design's engagement with critical AI discourse; Ecological Prototyping, an ongoing exploration of more-than-human design approaches; Versive Wheelchair Seating, research into parametric design that centres care and personalised fabrication; and Almer Augmented Reality system (now part of RealWear), a patented augmented reality platform that reconceptualises multimodal interaction as opposed to automating existing workflows.
His research includes peer-reviewed publications at the ACM CHI Conference, the premier international venue for human-computer interaction. He has delivered keynotes and participated in high-level panels alongside influential design voices such as Alice Rawsthorn at venues including Tokyo Forum (University of Tokyo) and the Sider Conference (Muthesius Academy).
Education & Experience
Lukas holds a BA in Industrial Design from the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Kiel and a Master's degree in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art in London (2012–2014), where he studied under Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby—pioneering theorists who established speculative design as critical practice. Their framework, positioning design as inquiry rather than problem-solving, remains foundational to his work. He has maintained project collaborations with Dunne & Raby after his studies on several design and exhibition projects.
Between 2014 and 2020, Lukas lectured and mentored projects at the Royal College of Art in the Design Interactions and Innovation Design Engineering MA programmes, shaping emerging practitioners in speculative methodologies and extending his influence through pedagogy.
Collaborations & Recognition
Active research collaborations with EPFL Lausanne, ETH Zurich (Versive), Empa, Eawag, and DLX Lab at the University of Tokyo position his work within Switzerland's innovation ecosystems. Funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Innosuisse, and Gebert Rüf Stiftung reflects institutional recognition of his research contributions. More info
Practice Modules
HS24
Prototyping Ecologies: When The Shit Hits The Fan
FS25
Speculative Practices: Tasty Temptations
Tools for Action: World Building & Virtual Production
HS25
Prototyping Ecologies: Toxicity